Playing for Change Brings Together Musicians Around the World To Sing "Gimme Shelter" [VIDEO]

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Playing for Change is out with a new video Monday that gives the global treatment to the classic Rolling Stones song, "Gimme Shelter."

If you’re not familiar with Playing for Change, it’s a band and foundation created by Mark Johnson, who spent four years traveling and filming musicians from around the world (local and street musicians alike).

In 2008, he released a cover of the song “Stand By Me.” That video has garnered close to 30 million YouTube views, and it helped lead to a PBS documentary and CD series. The Playing for Change band was also born (and will soon be playing at Jazz Fest in New Orleans), as well as The Playing for Change Foundation, which seeks to support music education.

The video above is from the band's upcoming album, PFC 2: Songs Around The World. "There are many songs that can touch deep into the human heart, and sometimes we need songs that sincerely express the urgency of our situation as a planet," says Johnson. "We have far too many starving children, warring nations and divided people. 'Gimme Shelter' is a song with such a purpose and can inspire us without preaching."

As a rule, Playing for Change makes an effort to go into a variety of global communities to find performers to contribute to its albums and accompanying videos. Johnson gave us the rundown on some of the musicians in this video. Check that out their stories below while you watch the video.

The video starts with two musicians playing Delta Blues with a steel guitar (Italy) and a washboard (New Orleans).

Both Roberto Luti (National Steel Guitar) and Washboard Chaz have dedicated their lives to playing the blues. Although they are thousands of miles apart in this video they have both witnessed first hand the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the chaos that can follow tragedy. They play this song with deep roots and soul and offer the bed for the West African and Indian percussion and subtle Jamaican groove.

These musicians are accompanied by members of the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, a group that was formed inside the refugee camps during the Sierra Leone genocide. Their expression and laid back sound adds to the depth of the song as every note they play comes from seeing the horrors of war and the damage it causes generations that follow.